Thursday, April 12, 2012 - DT 26773

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26773
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Friday, January 27, 2012
Setter Giovanni
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26773]
Big Dave's Review Written By Gazza
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

I seem to have been burning the candle at both ends this week and still not getting everything done that I had hoped to accomplish. Faced with time pressures, I probably threw in the towel a bit earlier than normal today and resorted to the electronic aids in my Tool Chest. A bit more of Mary's "perservation" might have produced a better result. Nevertheless, I was anxious to get the review written and try and catch up on the missing blogs for the last couple of days.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

9a   Farm animal being old is in cheap accommodation (8)

I don't profess to be a grammatical expert, but I believe that "being old" in the cryptic reading might be called a nounal phrase as in the sentence "Being old has both benefits and drawbacks".

10a/13d   Nut too stupid to be dismissed? No! (3,3)

This clue construction pops up from time to time. Here, we have a definition ("dismissed" meaning OUT) followed by an emphatic negative ("No!") indicating that the solution is exactly the opposite (NOT OUT).

11a   Pub wanting revolutionary type kept away (6)

In Gazza's hint, the word "landlord^[5]" refers to the proprietor of a pub.

12a   Sailor’s old instrument for certain (8)

In the Royal Navy, able seaman (abbreviation AB)^[5]. is a rank of sailor above ordinary seaman and below leading seaman.

20a   The majority of English people in recent times (8)

I would have had less of a struggle here had I spelled the name of the plant correctly at 6d. I was also a bit slow on the uptake here, even after finally finding the correct solution. Using my electronic aids, I narrowed the likely solution down to EIGHTEEN or NINETEEN and then — with the aid of 21d — eliminated the latter. I thought that "the majority of the English people" might refer to population demographics in England. However, eighteen-year-olds make up only about 1.2 % of the population of England^[7]. Finally, the penny dropped. The clue is a cryptic definition of the age of majority^[7] in England.

23a   Unsophisticated rock music makes Georgia seethe (6)

Like Gazza, I had always assumed that the term garage (as a music genre) had originated "from the place where a lot of amateur bands used to practise". However, the Oxford Dictionary of English says that garage^[5] (also UK garage) — a form of dance music incorporating elements of drum and bass, house music, and soul, characterized by a rhythm in which the second and fourth beats of the bar are omitted — comes from Paradise Garage, the name of a Manhattan dance club. I must say that I'm left a bit puzzled how UK garage became associated with a New York club.

26a   Hits missing bull’s-eye from one falling short, first to last (6)

In archery and shooting, an inner^[5] is (1) a division of the target next to the bullseye or (2) a shot that strikes the inner • the Doctor found the bull, and held it to the close, while Servis only scored inners.

2d   See material fade under one’s eye? (8)

The solution is a a fine and slightly stiff cotton fabric used especially for dresses that is more likely to be spelled organdie in the UK and organdy in the US^[3,4]. This material also seems to be more revealing in the US (where it is described as being transparent)^[3] than in the UK (where it is translucent)^[5].

15d & 24a   You and I jog? There’s indication of decay (3,3)

While dry rot is present in American dictionaries, I could find wet rot only in British dictionaries^[2,4,5]. It must be the climate!

22d   Girl of English descent going round Austria’s capital (6)

Elaine Paige^[7] (whose picture Gazza uses to illustrate this clue) is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for today - Falcon